SHOCKING “COVER UP”: As Evidence Comes Out That The White House Omitted Evidence Regarding Ketanji Jackson’s Child Porn Sentences

It was reported earlier today that Republicans say the White House did not include in materials given to the Judiciary Committee a grisly child porn case in which Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson departed significantly below probation office recommendation – and are raising questions of whether the White House “intentionally left it out,” which the White House disputes. 

Jackson, President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, sentenced the case less than a year ago as she was about to be elevated to the D.C. Circuit Court. Titled U.S. v. Cane, it involved “over 6,500 files depicting children appearing to be of elementary, middle and high school ages, engaged in sexual acts or posing sexually.”

The probation office recommended a sentence of 84 months in the case but Jackson sentenced the man to 60 months in prison, which was the mandatory minimum.

“Not only does this case, which Judge Jackson left off her list of child abuse cases, undercut her argument that she followed the probation office’s recommended sentences, but it also underscores the perils of moving too quickly in the vetting process,” a Republican Judiciary Committee aide told Fox News. 

The White House said the Cane case was unintentionally left off a list given to the committee which compared Jackson’s sentences to the probation office recommendations in 14 child abuse cases because it happened so close to the end of Jackson’s tenure on the D.C. District Court.

It also defended her handling of the case, arguing it actually undercut Republicans’ argument on whether Jackson followed prosecutor recommendations. 

“This case, in which Judge Jackson sentenced the defendant to the term of imprisonment recommended by the government, proves to an even greater extent that in the large majority of her decisions involving child sex crimes, the sentences Judge Jackson imposed were either consistent with or above what the government or the U.S. Probation Office recommended,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said. 

“The Cane case further undermines smears that a small number of Republican Senators have made – and which moderates members in both parties have rejected,” Bates continued. “Fact checkers at multiple mainstream outlets have highlighted that the specific Senators who made these attacks have voted for Trump-nominated judges who sentenced defendants for the same crimes in the same way, both in terms of giving sentences below guidelines that are widely considered to be out of date across the judiciary and below timelines sought by the prosecution.”

The White House said Jackson’s sentence in the Cane case was consistent with the 60-month sentence it says prosecutors asked for.

To support this, it pointed to a passage in the sentencing transcript in which Jackson said, “the need to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities supports the imposition of a similar sentence in this case [compared to other child porn sentences Jackson issued], which is what both defense counsel and the government have recommended.”

During Jackson’s hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz- R-Texas, and other Republicans grilled her about her sentences in child porn cases compared to government recommendations, which they said were the best publicly available benchmark.

Cruz mentioned the Cane case during Jackson’s hearing, but only to dismiss it as a case in which the government didn’t make a sentencing recommendation. That’s contrary to the White House’s argument that Jackson’s sentence was consistent with what the government sought – which Republicans say isn’t fully supported by Jackson’s comment in the sentencing transcript. 

“The transcripts—the only public material to address sentencing in this case—confirm that the probation office recommended a longer sentence than the minimum term imposed by Judge Jackson,” a Republican Judiciary Committee aide told Fox News. “They also reveal the government’s arguments for enhancing the penalty, which suggests interest in a sentence longer than the term Judge Jackson handed out.”

“The White House is pointing to a sealed document to support their unverified claim about a case that was mysteriously excluded from information they provided to Democrats, but not Republicans ahead of Judge Jackson’s hearing.

It’s clear from the sentencing transcript that the probation office, which Judge Jackson repeatedly referenced to justify her sentences, wanted a longer sentence in this case,” the GOP aide continued. “Moreover, Judge Jackson even pointed to a case (Cooper), where she imposed the shortest possible sentence despite the prosecutor’s higher recommendation, to justify her sentence in this case.”